Doubts about marriage

ONLY 30 per cent of young people believe in the value of marriage, suggesta nationwide survey whose results were published last week.

The survey, for the family law group of the regional lawyers, ASB Law, aske2500 men and women, of all ages and wealth categories, for their views omarriage and cohabitation.

One third believed that contracts to secure cohabitation rights would becommore popular than marriage.

About half said that they believed couples who felt they needed a "pre-nupought not to get married; and 80 per cent said that, in a divorce, assetshould be split 50-50, recognising the contribution of a stay-at-home paren

On marriage generally, although only 30 per cent of young respondent(16-24) said that they believed in its value, 67 per cent of all respondentsaid they agreed with the statement: "Marriage reinforces your commitment.This included 55 per cent of respondents who were divorcees.